Intonation+Invasion

=Intonation Invasion= Khoa Lam

Your planet is under attack by the evil Intonites! Their goal is to rid your world of music by stealing any and all tones, and it’s up to you to destroy their Audio Flying Objects (AFOs) to restore peace and harmony… literally. Unleash your song of choice and use the music bar as guidance shoot down AFOs in the correct order, but be cafeful – shooting an incorrect AFO will detonate a dissonance shockwave and you will lose a life. Blast an Intonite leader ship and score bonus points for each successful note for a limited time! Survive the invasion and you can compare your score with high scores from other players across the universe.



Learners, Objectives
The game is designed to teach K-8 students to learn how to read music notes on a bar scale in a fun and entertaining way. The space fantasy aspect makes the game marketable towards this younger audience, but it does not limit older learners from picking it up and learning to read music if they never did so at an early age. Songs of all difficulties in terms of range of scale are available, and a player can choose based what fits their level - for example, an easy level such as 'Hot Cross Buns' will only have three different notes in the entire song whereas a more difficult song such as 'Ode to Joy' uses all notes on the scale.

NA-M.K-4.5 READING AND NOTATING MUSIC Achievement Standard: Students use a system to read simple pitch notation in the treble clef in major keys NA.5-8.5 READING AND NOTATING MUSIC Achievement Standard: Students read at sight simple melodies in both the treble and bass clefs.

Context of Use
The game can be used anywhere there is a computer with internet access – this can be at home, at school or in a training facility. In a group setting headphones are recommended so sound elements in a player’s game will not confuse their neighbor.

The game is designed to be played as many times as desired. Before a game, players can pick from a list of songs and afterwards they will receive a score. The game is intended to be informal and played anywhere, although an instructor of a music course may include the game in a music reading lesson. It can be used in a one-computer classroom by a group, but observers will not get the full benefit of the learning experience in this case.

Scope
A single game should last about 5-10 minutes. High scores will be posted to a central database, so players are motivated to replay the game to compete for the highest scores. The game is intended for computers only, since the mouse is the best method to play the game and scores are to be posted on an internet database.

The game will be very large in scope since it will be available online. Players can jump in at any time and play however long they desire.

Object of the Game
The object of the game is to click on and destroy AFOs with correct notes to the music and obtain the highest score possible. These scores will be input into a central database online so players can see how they compare with other players.

Competing Products
Guitar Hero and Piano/Guitar Wizard are competing products to this game. The advantage to this game is that it actually teaches you how to read music as opposed to Guitar Hero where players just strike colors to rhythms. Piano/Guitar Wizard is a very comprehensive offering and the complexity and cost may turn off customers. This game finds a good middle ground and is also very accessible, since no special equipment is needed other than a computer.

Design Details
//Universal Elements// The overall look and feel of the game will be very cartoonish and colorful. The landscape view of an alien planet and crosshair mouse cursor gives the player the feeling that they are in a defense post ready to defend their planet.

Sound is a big element in the game. When the player destroys AFOs, they will hear the actual note. As the stage progresses the player will be rewarded with more of the melody of the song they chose to play. This increases the learning effectiveness by correlating note names with their sounds.

//Specific Elements// At the home screen, the player has several options:
 * **Settings** – Allows player to change songs and difficulty level.
 * **Instructions** – Gives the player an overview of how to play the game.
 * **High Scores** – Takes the player to the high scores database.
 * **Start Game** – Self explanatory.


 * > **Interface**

During a game, the player will always see their Score, Lives remaining, Music Bar with current note target, and Menu/Pause buttons. || ||
 * > **AFO**

These Audio Flying Objects fly every which way across the screen and are labeled with note names. This AFO is a "C". || ||
 * > **Firing on AFO**

This shows the players crosshair cursor over an "F" AFO. || ||
 * > **Explosion**

This is what happens when a player clicks on an AFO. || ||
 * > **Incorrect AFO**

If the player destroys an incorrect AFO, they will lose a life (heart) and this red note appears on the scale signifying the location of the note they killed. In this case the player killed a "G" instead of an "F". || ||
 * > **Intonite Leader**

On occasion an Intonite leader will zip across the screen. If a player manages to destroy one, all the AFOs will glow for a short amount of time signifying that a player will earn bonus points for each successful kill. || ||
 * > **Progress Bar**

As the player shoots correct AFOs, the progress bar at the bottom of the screen shows how far along they are during that specific song. || ||

Here is a sample High Score screen:

//Technical Elements//
 * **Software** – Authored in Adobe Flash.
 * **Platform** – Exclusively for Mac/PC.
 * **File Formats** – During development, graphics will be .png files and sounds will be .wav files. These two file types provide the highest quality and will be easiest for developers to manipulate.
 * **Data Structures** – Game state will not be saved, but high scores will. These scores will be sorted by song.

Motivational Issues
The ARCS Model of Motivational Design was created by John Keller while he was researching ways to supplement the learning process with motivation. The model is based on Tolman’s and Lewin’s expectancy-value theory, which presumes that people are motivated to learn if there is value in the knowledge presented (i.e. it fulfills personal needs) and if there is an optimistic expectation for success. The model consists of four main areas: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. Many elements of Intonation Invasion engage the learner through these areas:


 * Attention** – The game throws the player into a **fantasy** world entirely different from their own. Using a unique situation to create curiosity and wonderment is a form of perceptual arousal, and players will definitely be curious about this alien race attacking their planet.


 * Relevance** – Providing a backstory and the important role that the player must play to defend their planet orients them to a specific personal goal. Giving the players choice for which songs to play gives them an additional sense of motive matching.


 * Confidence** – The game provides many success opportunities since there are many notes to a song and gives the player personal control over said success. The how-to-play section of the game works on building confidence by providing the criteria the player needs to succeed.


 * Satisfaction** – The game provides extrinsic rewards and a sense of **competition**. As a player destroys correct AFOs they get the satisfaction of an explosion and points that go towards their final score. Once their stage is complete, they may even have the satisfaction of seeing their final score at the top of a list of high scores.

Design Process
While deciding which topic to create a game for, it was between Math and Music. My board game with Katie was already a Math game, and the Geometry game idea I thought up happened to already exist. So I decided to focus on music and work with the years of experience I’m fortunate to already have in the genre.

At first I wanted to create a game similar to Guitar Hero and Rock Band with the scrolling across the screen element, since those games are so well known that a similar game would be very marketable. I started to think of ways I could incorporate real music elements (rhythm/notes on a bar scale), but with the button limitation of arcade guitars I couldn’t think of a good way to teach an entire music scale of notes. Rhythm was an entirely different concept to teach, and my solutions were starting to get complex. I was coming up ideas left and right, but I was making no progress.

After speaking to a few friends with some musical background and pitching ideas it occurred to me that if I’m going to create an arcade game, I need to start thinking simple. I decided that teaching both rhythm and notes was too complex and I needed to just focus on one. I finally chose notes because you need to know the notes on a scale before you can play rhythms to them. Even then, a scrolling game with notes would require at least 7 inputs (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) and that’s if we don’t include multiple octaves! I really didn’t want to require any proprietary equipment (such as a plug-in keyboard) to play the game, so I ended up tossing the idea of scrolling notes altogether.

I decided to switch gears and think about flash games that I enjoy playing online – point and shoot. How could I incorporate music notes into a point and shoot game… aha! Once I decided on a space fantasy theme the pieces fell into place rather quickly and I had a field day writing the introduction and getting down to graphic business.

In future game design projects, I know not to get lost in my own ideas and to approach the process by always remembering the goals I set beforehand. In this case, I wanted a simple arcade game with a fantasy and competition element - brainstorming without remembering these goals wasted me a lot of time.